UEFA Euro 2020 in the context of "UEFA Euro 2024"

The Italy national football team (Italian: Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in men's international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for football in Italy, which is a co-founder and member of UEFA. Italy's home matches are played at various stadiums throughout Italy, and its primary training ground and technical headquarters, Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano, is located in Florence.

Italy is one of the most successful national teams in international competitions, having won four World Cup titles (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), reaching two more finals (1970, 1994), and finishing third place in 1990 and fourth in 1978. Italy also won two European Championships (1968, 2020), and appeared in two other finals of the tournament (2000, 2012). Italy's team also finished as runners-up in the CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions in 2022, and in third place at both the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2013 and at the UEFA Nations League in 2021 and 2023.

The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contested by UEFA members' senior men's national teams, determining the continental champion of Europe. It is the second-most watched football tournament in the world after the FIFA World Cup; the Euro 2016 final was watched by a global audience of around 600 million. The competition has been held every four years since 1960, except for 2020, when it was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, but kept the name Euro 2020. Scheduled to be in the even-numbered year between FIFA World Cup tournaments, it was originally called the European Nations' Cup before changing to its current name in 1968. Since 1996, the individual events have been branded as "UEFA Euro [year]".

Before entering the tournament, all teams other than the host nations (which qualify automatically) compete in a qualifying process. Until 2016, the championship winners could compete in the following year's FIFA Confederations Cup, but were not obliged to do so. From the 2020 edition onwards, the winner competes in the CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions.

A total of 946 goals have been scored in games at the men's 17 final tournaments of the UEFA European Championship, not counting penalties scored during shoot-outs. Since the first goal scored by Yugoslav player Milan Galić at the 1960 European Nations' Cup, exactly 545 footballers have scored goals at the Euro tournaments, of whom 39 have scored four or more.

Since in the beginning tournaments were contested between four teams and only two games were played, top goalscorers of the first three editions have scored only two goals. This was bettered in 1972, when West Germany's Gerd Müller scored four goals. Four years later this was matched by his compatriot Dieter Müller and finally in 1984 France's Michel Platini have scored record 9 goals in just 5 games. His record stood for more than three decades until Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 10th goal for Portugal at the UEFA Euro 2020. He has later improved his tally and stands at 14 goals in 30 appearances at the European Championship tournaments — also record. The top 39 goalscorers have represented 15 nations, with 7 players scoring for Germany or West Germany, 5 for France, and 4 for Netherlands. In total, only 6 of them have scored at tournaments with maximum of 8 teams (prior to UEFA Euro 1996).

The 2022 Finalissima (lit. 'Grand Final'; Spanish: Finalísima) was the third edition of the intercontinental football match between the winners of the previous South American and European championships, and the first edition rebranded as Finalissima. The match featured Italy, winners of UEFA Euro 2020 (held in 2021), and Argentina, winners of the 2021 Copa América. It was played at Wembley Stadium in London on 1 June 2022. The match, a revival of the Artemio Franchi Cup last played 29 years prior, was organised by UEFA and CONMEBOL as part of a renewed partnership between the two confederations.

Argentina, the defending champions, won the match 3–0 for their second CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions title.

The Wales national football team (Welsh: Tîm pêl-droed cenedlaethol Cymru) represents Wales in men's international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales (FAW), the governing body for football in Wales. They have been a member of FIFA since 1946 and a member of UEFA since 1954.

Wales have qualified for the FIFA World Cup twice, in 1958 and 2022. In 1958, they reached the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champions Brazil. They then went 58 years before reaching their second major tournament, when – following a rise of 109 places from an all-time low of 117th to a peak of 8th in the FIFA World Ranking between August 2011 and October 2015 – they qualified for UEFA Euro 2016, where they reached the semi-finals before again losing to the eventual champions, Portugal. A second successive UEFA European Championship followed when Wales reached the round of 16 of UEFA Euro 2020. They also progressed through UEFA Euro 1976 qualifying to the quarter-finals, though this was played on a two-legged, home-and-away basis and is not considered part of the finals tournament.

The 2021 UEFA Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2020–21 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the second season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The tournament was held in Italy from 6 to 10 October 2021, and was contested by the four group winners of Nations League A. The tournament consisted of two semi-finals, a third place play-off and final to determine the champions of the UEFA Nations League. While originally scheduled for 2 to 6 June 2021, the tournament was pushed back due to the postponement of UEFA Euro 2020 to June and July 2021.

Portugal were the defending champions, having won the inaugural 2019 finals. However, they failed to qualify for the 2021 finals after finishing second in their group behind France.

The Johan Cruyff Arena (Dutch: Johan Cruijff Arena [ˈjoːɦɑŋ ˈkrœyf aːˌreːnaː]; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the home stadium of football club Ajax since its opening and the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam. Built from 1993 to 1996 at a cost equivalent to €140 million, it is the largest stadium in the country. The stadium opened as the Amsterdam Arena (stylised as Amsterdam ArenA) and it was officially renamed for the 2018–19 football season, in honour of Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff who died in 2016.

It hosted the 1998 UEFA Champions League final and was one of the stadiums used during UEFA Euro 2000, including the semi-final. The stadium also hosted three group stage matches and one match in the round of 16 of the UEFA Euro 2020. Furthermore the 2013 UEFA Europa League final was staged in the stadium as well.